New Hobby

911

911

Well-known Member
Location
USA
Years ago, I used to collect books of matches, so long as they had the hotel name or the car dealership name, a bar, restaurant, or whatever. I think my wife counted over 1400 different books of matches. We finally donated them to a sportsman’s club to use to start their fires in their cabin, or cigars, cigarettes, etc. We couldn’t think of what else to do with them.

Now, I am collecting pens with any kind of ads or names where I pick them up from. At last count, I have about 700 pens. I haven’t decided what to do with them when I get tired of doing this. I have a friend that collects key rings or fobs. He said he thinks his stash has grown to over a 1000 now.

Anyone else collect weird stuff?
 

911 said:
Years ago, I used to collect books of matches, so long as they had the hotel name or the car dealership name, a bar, restaurant, or whatever. I think my wife counted over 1400 different books of matches. We finally donated them to a sportsman’s club to use to start their fires in their cabin, or cigars, cigarettes, etc. We couldn’t think of what else to do with them.

Now, I am collecting pens with any kind of ads or names where I pick them up from. At last count, I have about 700 pens. I haven’t decided what to do with them when I get tired of doing this. I have a friend that collects key rings or fobs. He said he thinks his stash has grown to over a 1000 now.

Anyone else collect weird stuff?
Click to expand...
postcards... of which I have about 6 large albums... Vintage rotary phones, altho' I no longer buy those, I still have some here in my collection of which I won't part..., Vintage scraps that we used to swap when we were little girls at school.. and finally all things to do with ConCorde .. the now defunct Supersonic plane .. Onboard packages.. pens, notepaper etc.. in new condition
 

hollydolly said:
postcards... of which I have about 6 large albums... Vintage rotary phones, altho' I no longer buy those, I still have some here in my collection of which I won't part..., Vintage scraps that we used to swap when we were little girls at school.. and finally all things to do with ConCorde .. the now defunct Supersonic plane .. Onboard packages.. pens, notepaper etc.. in new condition
Click to expand...
That was a shame about the Concorde. I loved that plane. It would fly over my house almost everyday around 3 pm. on it’s way from New York to Washington, D.C.
 
hollydolly said:
postcards... of which I have about 6 large albums... Vintage rotary phones, altho' I no longer buy those, I still have some here in my collection of which I won't part..., Vintage scraps that we used to swap when we were little girls at school.. and finally all things to do with ConCorde .. the now defunct Supersonic plane .. Onboard packages.. pens, notepaper etc.. in new condition
Click to expand...
I flew on the Concorde. My neurologist had a model of it on his table, so I gave him the whole intact leather folder which contained all sorts of stuff-menus, etc.
 
911 said:
That was a shame about the Concorde. I loved that plane. It would fly over my house almost everyday around 3 pm. on it’s way from New York to Washington, D.C.
Click to expand...
what a wonderful sight to see.. and the Sonic Boom was stupendous... .. Once I was staying at the Charles De Gaulle Airport hotel near Paris .. and Concorde was visible right outside our bedroom window.. we fully expected to get no sleep if it was going to take off in the night.. but not a bit of it. We awoke at 8am, and learned the plane took off at 6am.. and we never heard a thing!!
 
911 said:
Now, I am collecting pens
Click to expand...
Me and my childhood buddy collected pens
fountain pens
Big, round Quaker Oats boxes full of them
Fountain pens leak
So do those Quaker Oats boxes


911 said:
Anyone else collect weird stuff?
Click to expand...
A few years back, I collected baseball caps
Not just any baseball caps
Mostly ones with known carriers and official stuff
Like FedX, UPS, Airborne, DHL, ODF&W (Oregon Dept of Fish & Wildlife)
They were from friends in the business
Then somebody asked if I could get in trouble having them
Turns out I could
Thought about ditching them
Couldn't
Riiiiight up until I reached into the shop rafter,
plopped a favorite on my head
.....with a wasp in it

Now, I just save old coins when I see them
 
One of my friend's had a leak in her dad's basement. When the kids came in, found stuff, there were a ton of coins in those folder thingys and some of those were dated back to 1867 I think. I bet that's worth something. Interesting.
 
People collect things that may appear strange or idiosyncratic to other people. I have heard of people collecting figurines of things like pigs, frogs, unicorns, cows, Santa’s, clowns, paperweights, etc. My mother collected old bottles. You could probably psychologically investigate why such objects hold an attraction to those who collect them; it can become kind of an addiction, or a form of obsessive-compulsive behavior. I’ve collected pocket knives, small wooden boxes, and of course, foxes. When I had collected several dozen foxes, generating storage problems, my higher self screamed at collector-me, “Why are you doing this?!,” and the cycle was broken. Perhaps there is comfort or affirmation in the familiar or I was trying to reproduce myself, I dunno…

The important thing to realize is that most collections represent a pet interest, and are a niche market of value only to other collectors of the same thing. Few indeed are those people who have financed the college education of a child with their Beanie Baby collection… 🙀
 
Lavinia said:
It was never my intention to collect plastic bags, but I have acquired quite a stack; mainly because there is no way to get rid of them.
Click to expand...
Thrift stores in your area? I know the Goodwill and the cancer society use their own bags but our PAWS thrift is glad to get bags since they don't buy bags for the store. When I was helping my stepfather clearing out my mother's stuff, I found a bag full of plastic bags and took that to PAWS.
 
911 said:
Years ago, I used to collect books of matches, so long as they had the hotel name or the car dealership name, a bar, restaurant, or whatever. I think my wife counted over 1400 different books of matches. We finally donated them to a sportsman’s club to use to start their fires in their cabin, or cigars, cigarettes, etc. We couldn’t think of what else to do with them.

Now, I am collecting pens with any kind of ads or names where I pick them up from. At last count, I have about 700 pens. I haven’t decided what to do with them when I get tired of doing this. I have a friend that collects key rings or fobs. He said he thinks his stash has grown to over a 1000 now.

Anyone else collect weird stuff?
Click to expand...

I had a large collection of dove-tail wooden boxes. Some with old writings from the 1700's. Most were stolen.
I collected old kitchen tins and antique kitchen signs, 1930's kitchen linens.
Old canvas bank bags, matchbooks and church keys, antique children's books from the 1930's. (for the illustrations),
antique door hinges. Antique Christmas ornaments, wooden bowls.
Gave up collecting things years ago, but I still have a lot of antique Western gear, 1920's saddles, spurs, bridles, etc.
I like the old things so much better than the new.
 


Back
Top